Albatross and longlining - Managing seabird bycatch

Marine Policy

Volumn 21, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 63-72

  Bergin, Anthony ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ALBATROSS; BIRDS; BY-CATCH; LONGLINING; MITIGATION MEASURES;

AVES; DIOMEDEIDAE;

EID: 0030964137     PISSN: 0308597X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0308-597X(96)00040-1     Document Type: Article

References (41)

1. See D L Alverson, M H Freeberg, J G Pope and S A Murawski, A Global Assessment of Fisheries Bycatch and Discards, 1994, FAO Fisheries Technical Paper, 339.
2. See two papers prepared by FAO, Responsible Fishing Gears and Selectivity, Discussion Paper #2 for the International Expert Consultation for the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing Operations, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada, 6-11 June, 1994; Discussion Paper #3, Responsible Harvesting Practices, tabled at the same meeting.
3. See two papers prepared by FAO, Responsible Fishing Gears and Selectivity, Discussion Paper #2 for the International Expert Consultation for the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing Operations, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada, 6-11 June, 1994; Discussion Paper #3, Responsible Harvesting Practices, tabled at the same meeting.
4. See generally N Klaer and T Polacheck, Japanese Longline Seabird Bycatch in the Australian Fishing Zone April 1991-March 1994, CSIRO Division of Fisheries, Hobart, Tasmania, October 1995. For comments on this point from New Zealand see J A Bartle, 'Sexual segregation of foraging zones in Procellariiform birds: implications of accidental capture on commercial fishery longlines of Grey Petrels (Procellaria cinera)', Notornis, Vol 27, 1990, pp 146-150.
5. See generally N Klaer and T Polacheck, Japanese Longline Seabird Bycatch in the Australian Fishing Zone April 1991-March 1994, CSIRO Division of Fisheries, Hobart, Tasmania, October 1995. For comments on this point from New Zealand see J A Bartle, 'Sexual segregation of foraging zones in Procellariiform birds: implications of accidental capture on commercial fishery longlines of Grey Petrels (Procellaria cinera)', Notornis, Vol 27, 1990, pp 146-150.
6. Life features refer to the Wandering Albatross; for other species see S Marchant and P J Higgins, eds, Handbook of Australian, New Zealand, and Antarctic Birds, Vol 1, 1990, Part A, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
7. A Foster, 'The Wandering Albatross: saving a southern seas icon', Australian Fisheries, Vol 11, 1994, pp 16-17; R Gales, Cooperative Mechanisms for the Conservation of Albatross, 1993, Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Tasmanian Government Printer; Anon, 'Flight of the wandering albatross', Australian Fisheries, Vol 8, 1993, pp 24-25.
8. A Foster, 'The Wandering Albatross: saving a southern seas icon', Australian Fisheries, Vol 11, 1994, pp 16-17; R Gales, Cooperative Mechanisms for the Conservation of Albatross, 1993, Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Tasmanian Government Printer; Anon, 'Flight of the wandering albatross', Australian Fisheries, Vol 8, 1993, pp 24-25.
9. A Foster, 'The Wandering Albatross: saving a southern seas icon', Australian Fisheries, Vol 11, 1994, pp 16-17; R Gales, Cooperative Mechanisms for the Conservation of Albatross, 1993, Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Tasmanian Government Printer; Anon, 'Flight of the wandering albatross', Australian Fisheries, Vol 8, 1993, pp 24-25.
10. N P Brothers, 'Albatross mortality and associated bait loss in the Japanese longline fishery in the southern ocean', Biological Conservation, Vol 55, 1991, pp 255-268.
11. H Weimerskirch and P Jouventin, 'Population dynamics of the wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans, of the Crozet islands: causes and consequences of the population decline', Oikos, Vol 49, 1987, pp 315-322; T E Murray et al, 'Incidental capture of seabirds by Japanese southern bluefin tuna vessels in New Zealand Waters 1988- 92', Bird Conservation International, Vol 3, 1993, pp 181-210. Recent research has also shown that some species of albatross, particularly black-footed albatross that nest on Midway Atoll in the North Pacific, are vulnerable to DDT. Researchers have found high levels of DDT, PCBs and dioxinlike compounds in black-footed albatross adults, chicks and eggs resulting in a 3% drop in nest productivity. The pollutants in the birds' diet are probably coming from India, southeast Asia and Japan; see L Line 'Old Nemesis, DDT, reaches Remote Midway albatross', New York Times, 12 March 1996, C1, C8.
12. H Weimerskirch and P Jouventin, 'Population dynamics of the wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans, of the Crozet islands: causes and consequences of the population decline', Oikos, Vol 49, 1987, pp 315- 322; T E Murray et al, 'Incidental capture of seabirds by Japanese southern bluefin tuna vessels in New Zealand Waters 1988-92', Bird Conservation International, Vol 3, 1993, pp 181-210. Recent research has also shown that some species of albatross, particularly black-footed albatross that nest on Midway Atoll in the North Pacific, are vulnerable to DDT. Researchers have found high levels of DDT, PCBs and dioxinlike compounds in black-footed albatross adults, chicks and eggs resulting in a 3% drop in nest productivity. The pollutants in the birds' diet are probably coming from India, southeast Asia and Japan; see L Line 'Old Nemesis, DDT, reaches Remote Midway albatross', New York Times, 12 March 1996, C1, C8.
13. H Weimerskirch and P Jouventin, 'Population dynamics of the wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans, of the Crozet islands: causes and consequences of the population decline', Oikos, Vol 49, 1987, pp 315- 322; T E Murray et al, 'Incidental capture of seabirds by Japanese southern bluefin tuna vessels in New Zealand Waters 1988- 92', Bird Conservation International, Vol 3, 1993, pp 181-210. Recent research has also shown that some species of albatross, particularly black-footed albatross that nest on Midway Atoll in the North Pacific, are vulnerable to DDT. Researchers have found high levels of DDT, PCBs and dioxinlike compounds in black-footed albatross adults, chicks and eggs resulting in a 3% drop in nest productivity. The pollutants in the birds' diet are probably coming from India, southeast Asia and Japan; see L Line 'Old Nemesis, DDT, reaches Remote Midway albatross', New York Times, 12 March 1996, C1, C8.
14. J Ashford, J Croxall, P Rublilar and C Moreno, 'Seabird interactions with longlining operations for Dissostichus eleginoides around South Georgia, April to May 1994', CCAMLR Science, Vol 2, 1995, pp 111-121.
15. Brothers, op cit, ref 6. Because of variability in temporal and spatial distribution of seabirds, this estimate does need to be interpreted with caution.
16. Klaer and Polachek, op cit, ref 3, pp 38-42.
17. See Anon, 'Inventions save albatross . . . and profits', Australian Fisheries, Vol 1, 1991, pp 34-36.
18. Brothers, op cit, ref 6. This is calculated on the basis of 12.3 baits/1000 hooks.
19. Anon, op cit, ref 11.
20. Fisheries Management Regulations -Tori Poles. Statutory Rules 1995, No. 360 Australia.
21. See S Baird, 'Nonfish species bycatch -an update', Seafood New Zealand, December, 1994, pp 55-59; J Peacey, 'New Zealand longline tuna fishery - Code of Practice', Seafood New Zealand, October, 1995, pp 56-57.
22. See S Baird, 'Nonfish species bycatch - an update', Seafood New Zealand, December, 1994, pp 55-59; J Peacey, 'New Zealand longline tuna fishery - Code of Practice', Seafood New Zealand, October, 1995, pp 56-57.
23. Report of the first meeting of the CCSBT's Ecologically Related Species Working Group, Wellington, New Zealand, 18-20 December 1995, mimeo.
24. Brothers, op cit, ref 6.
25. See Gales, op cit, ref 5.
26. Klaer and Polachek, op cit, ref 3, p 63.
27. Some species of bait fish have an internal sack of air, somewhat like a balloon, that causes them to float. This is a significant cause of bait loss.
28. See Brothers, op cit, ref 6.
29. Klaer and Polachek, op cit, ref 3, p 64.
30. See Murray et al, op cit, ref 7.
31. Ibid.
32. Brothers, op cit, ref 6.
33. See M Haward, A Bergin and R Hall, 'Albatross conservation and CCAMLR: The International legal and political basis for management of seabird by-catch', in G Robertson, R Gales and Murray Surrey-Beatty, eds, Biology and Conservation of Albatross: Proceedings of the First International Conference, Sydney, in preparation.
34. This observation is made on the basis of interviews conducted by the author with industry officials in South Korea and Taiwan in January 1996.
35. See explanatory statement 'Declaration under s 18(1) of the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992, Issued under the Authority of the Minister for the Environment, Sport and Territories', Canberra, July 1995.
36. See 'Advice to the Minister for the Environment from the Endangered Species Scientific Subcommittee on a public nomination to schedule 3 of the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992'. This document is available from the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Canberra. For discussion see N Evans, 'Australia moves to protect Albatross from longline bycatch', International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, Vol 11, 163, 1996, pp 387-393.
37. See Atlas of Southern Hemisphere Albatrosses, compiled by W L N Tickell, Department of Zoology, University of Bristol, July 1995; Gales, op cit, ref 5.
38. See M Haward and A Bergin, 'Overlapping regimes and marine living resources: Management of highly migratory tuna species', paper presented at Oceans Policy and Overlapping Regimes Workshop, Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 23 September 1995.
39. Currently there are forty-seven contracting parties to the Bonn Convention. Short-tailed albatross are already listed on Appendix 1 of the Bonn Convention. This lists migratory species which are endangered. Range States are required to prohibit the taking of these animals, with few exceptions, so as to give them full protection.
40. See M Hayashi, 'The 1995 Agreement on the conservation and management of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks: significance for the Law of the Sea Convention', Ocean and Coastal Management, Vol 29, Nos 1-3, 1995, pp 51-69.
41. On the impact of environmental instruments on the fishing industry see A Bergin and M Haward, 'International environmental conventions and actions-implications for the fishing industry', in Commodity Markets and Natural Resources, Proceedings of the National Agricultural and Resources Outlook Conference, Canberra, 7-9 February 1995, Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics, Canberra, 1995, pp 281-299.